Thanksgiving Redemption

 Over the last year, I have had a crisis of faith in Thanksgiving. It has long been my favorite holiday. But was it still my favorite? 

I mean, the First Thanksgiving was nothing of the sort; Pilgrims and Indians are often portrayed inaccurately (and sometimes problematically); most leaves have lost their color by the time Thanksgiving arrives; Thanksgiving turkeys are irrelevant to vegetarians; many Thanksgiving foods are also served at other holidays; we should live in thanksgiving daily (Alma 34:38), not just once a year. And since Christmas always intrudes into Thanksgiving's territory, I worried it was dying.

But after making it through another Thanksgiving season, I think it deserves a spot as my favorite. And I don't think it's going to die. A lot of food companies did special things for Thanksgiving. And I think it is a major victory that Target reversed course and is now going to be closed on Thanksgiving. Phew!

I did have an enjoyable Thanksgiving week. It would have been better if I didn't have grad school constantly looming over me, but next Thanksgiving I will be done! (To be fair, I will probably miss these days when I have mornings free.)

On Monday morning, I went to Five Below to pick up the scarecrow and pumpkin Squishmallows my niece had set aside for me (she works there). We didn't have my evening class that day. For our research papers, we meet with other classmates, so I met with them to discuss our first drafts for a couple of hours on Zoom. (They were annoyed with me that my first draft was mostly complete; they have more work to do still.) Then I was free to go on a run. I went trail running every day this week (except Sunday)! This year, they have been building a new Bonneville Shoreline Trail, so I decided to see the new portions near the Summerwood neighborhood in Bountiful. I ran five miles and didn't see the end.

A few months ago, I donated to a Kickstarter for Brownies! Brownies! Brownies! in Sugar House, which entitled me to "free" brownies and a t-shirt, but I had to get the shirt before Thanksgiving, so I went and got it Monday evening. But none of this week's flavors interested me, so I'll have to get the brownies another time.

On Tuesday, I attended class as usual. For the bus ride home, the marquee on the front of the bus wasn't working. There was a speaker outside that said, "4 5 5," but it's a little hard to understand, so when I got on, I said, "This is 455, right?" The driver said, "Yes, like it said outside." I told him, "The sign isn't working." And he angrily responded, "I know!" If he hadn't said "like it said outside," I wouldn't have told him the sign was working. And then at every stop, people would ask what bus it was, and he was irrationally angry that people didn't hear the sign. Once he started going off about how "people are ignoring the speaker today." I could hear him muttering to himself. And if anyone else told him the sign wasn't working, he snapped "I know!" just like he did to me. Sheesh! What's his problem? When I get off the bus, I always say "thank you" to the driver, and this time I was sure to add a "have a nice day" to my farewell. (I thought it would make things worse if I said "I hope your day gets better.")

That evening I only had time to go to the Woodbriar Trail.

Then on Wednesday, I actually had class. During all my schooling, public school and undergrad, I have never had class on the day before Thanksgiving. What's up with that, University of Utah?! But it was on Zoom, since people were traveling. So in the morning before class, I headed to Trader Joe's to buy a few things (see pumpkinundation roundup below). It was busy, but not as much as I expected; I've seen them busier on ordinary days. Then I went home for class. And after class, I was able to run up my very favorite, North Canyon. There were flurries half the time I was running, so I was glad I was wearing a jacket and thick gloves. There was just something so magical about running in the snow in the twilight on the day before Thanksgiving. Last year, I went up North Canyon the afternoon before Thanksgiving, and it was quite busy, even though there was a lot of snow on the ground up the canyon. This time, it was mostly deserted. Maybe because the day was colder this year?

Then I came home and began preparing my portion of food for Thanksgiving. I was only assigned to make cranberry sauce, but I opted to make other foods as well.

On Thanksgiving morning, I only had time for a Wild Rose run. 

Then I had to head home to finish cooking, and I also had to pick up the cooked turkeys from my grandparents. I made six things for Thanksgiving: cranberry sauce, spiced apple cider (well, I spiced it, but I didn't make the cider itself), green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, Dixie salad (which is a traditional St. George Thanksgiving fruit salad I wanted to try), and ice cream. Green bean casserole seems like it should be cheap and gross, but I really have come to love it! (My family didn't always have it.) My mom helped me with the hardest parts of preparing these foods: peeling sweet potatoes and removing pomegranate seeds.

I cooked apples in cinnamon, butter, and brown sugar before I added them to the ice cream. And I also added cranberry sauce to the second batch, but I was a little too timid.

My mom's family all came over for the big meal.

Then that evening, after the family left and the dishes were cleaned (in that order), I watched The Thanksgiving That Almost Wasn't and Squanto: A Warrior's Tale, two very different takes on the traditional "First Thanksgiving" story. The first one is a kitschy cartoon that is so much fun to watch, despite the historical inaccuracies (and it never tried to be accurate). The second one is one I hadn't seen before. It still had too many liberties and inaccuracies for me to fully endorse it, but I do have to say the story of Squanto is far more interesting than the story of the Mayflower.

I'm not convinced we should throw out the Pilgrims and Indians, in part because there can be value in that story, and I am comfortable with a nuanced understanding—but I would be fine if it just gradually faded out. For example, I recently watched An Arthur Thanksgiving from 2020, and it made zero references to Pilgrims.

Then on Friday, I took down Thanksgiving decorations and started on Christmas. I also went back to the new Bonneville Shoreline Trail where I had been on Monday, but this time I followed it until its end (about 3.7 miles one way). It appears that it will meet up with North Canyon when they are done building it.

My mom hung up a ceramic decoration that is Santa's face. At 6:00 on Saturday morning, I awoke to a crashing sound, so I went to see what it was. The Santa face had fallen off the wall and shattered, and Santa's eye was looking at me.

"He sees you when you're sleeping."

Then on Saturday, I worked on some homework before I went up North Canyon again. Nothing too interesting this time, but it does bring me so much joy that I am physically and locationally able to go up there so often.

Then today, we headed up near Pocatello, Idaho, to hear my first-cousin-once-removed give her homecoming talk. Today is the fourteenth anniversary of when I entered the MTC, so I tend to think of missions and homecomings at this time of year. 

So I still really enjoy Thanksgiving. Even the less positive things, like working hard in the kitchen and family drama, add character to the day. But I'm not sad it's over, because that means it's Christmastime. And here's a question I have: do I really need a favorite holiday? Since they are my entire life, I don't know that I need to pick one that I like best.

***

Now that Thanksgiving is in our rearview mirror, it's the final installment of pumpkinundation roundup. Sad day! 

I first tried this Trader Joe's Everything but the Leftovers Seasoning Blend on plain popcorn, per the recommendation on the bottle. The seasoning got up in my nose and made me cough, like pepper. So I can't recommend it on popcorn. But! I put this stuffing-flavored stuff on bland foods like mashed potatoes and cooked onions, and I loved it! I don't necessarily look forward to eating those foods, but this time I did. 8/10.

Pecan pie is a popular flavor these days, but often that's just pecan, not pecan pie. Not so with the Dairy Queen Pecan Pie Blizzard, which actually had squishy bits in it to represent the syrupy part of pecan pie. I hope they bring this one back! 8/10.

That's one of the squishy pieces, not a nut.

I went to Spanky's, a Bountiful standby, to get the Spanky's Turkey Cranberry Sandwich, but I had to ask if they had it, because it wasn't on any menu or sign. It was good; it was fine. Just what you'd expect. 7/10.

Since I now consider apple pie to also be a Fourth of July dessert, I have had these Apple Pie Larabars in my cupboard since the summer, but I forgot to put them on here until this week. They're fine; Larabars aren't the best things to begin with. 6/10.

Pearson's Pumpkin Spice Salted Nut Roll has a kind of artificial flavor to it. I think most of the flavoring is in the nougat/caramel/whatever beneath the peanuts. 6/10.

I really enjoyed the Millie's Pumpkin Brownie Shake (in Sugar House). The brownie bits added some needed textural contrast to the good but typical pumpkin shake. 8/10.

Good & Gather Apple Pie Date & Nut Bars are Target's version of Larabars. They're a little drier than Larabars, but I don't think they're worse for it. 6/10.

I am so excited to see Thanksgiving foods get attention, so I had to try Trader Joe's Green Bean Casserole Bites. They aren't as good as real green bean casserole; they tasted much more mushroomy. 6/10.

I'm picky when it comes to cheese, so I didn't know what to expect from Trader Joe's Camembert Cheese and Cranberry Sauce Fillo Bites. But they were better than I expected! The cheese wasn't gross, and I enjoyed the cranberry element. 7/10.

I was most excited for Trader Joe's Turkey Sausage Stuffing Fried Rice. I love fried rice, but a holiday-themed fried rice? Amazing! It really does taste like stuffing. 9/10.

[post edited because I forgot something] On the day after Thanksgiving, I finally used my Diamond Pumpkin Pie Spice Nut Pie Crust. It has spices and is made with walnuts and almonds.

I used it for a spaghetti squash pie. It has nice spices, but there is a prominent walnut flavor, and I think walnuts are the grossest nut. The pie was very liquidy, which made the crust very soft and moist, but I wouldn't say it's soggy. 6/10 for the crust, 7/10 for the spaghetti squash pie.

See you here again in September!

Crazy Bus

(This picture from this week doesn't really have anything to do with this post; I just thought it would be a better preview image than the Nut Roll below.)

I worked really hard this week to finish a presentation for my history of science and technology class. Each of us grad students is required to give a presentation one class period, and Thursday was my turn. I presented on the history of paleontology, and much of my information was gleaned from my old college textbooks (I'm glad I kept them!). I talked about changes in the science of technology, and I talked about how Native Americans viewed fossils before "science" took over. We were encouraged to use primary sources, so I used a ten-minute clip of Ray Harryhausen stop-motion dinosaurs from a 1956 documentary called The Animal World. 

(If you are reading this in the future, I am sure that this video will be blank. I used a DVD so I could show the whole thing seamlessly, instead of these shorter clips.)

The class really seemed interested and had some good questions at the end, so I was pleased with the outcome. (There are several retired men in the class, and one of them asked an oddball question about what if we find dinosaur DNA from Jupiter?) Then after class, I had to meet with the professor to talk about it, and I think I was more nervous about that than I was about presenting. But that went well; he complimented my work and gave me some suggestions. I was very pleased with the outcome.

But my ride home was...interesting. 

I was sitting on the bus reading, and as we were stopped at a light, suddenly I heard some banging. I looked up, and there was a crazy man trying to break into the bus! He was alternately pounding on the front and back doors, hitting the windows, throwing things, swinging his backpack at the bus, and climbing on the bike rack. He was also sometimes stopping in front of other cars. At one point, a university shuttle was in the lane next to us, and he went in front of it and tried to break off its windshield wipers. He was yelling the entire time, though I didn't understand what he was saying. 

The bus driver made a call, and there was also a man outside in scrubs who was on the phone, trying to direct traffic around the incident. This went on for literally ten minutes before the campus police arrived and subdued him. They got him on the ground, though I didn't see much of that because a police car was in the way. It caused quite a traffic jam, not only because the crazy man was blocking traffic, but also because multiple police cars responded. 

But once the police subdued him, we still couldn't go right away. The police came on and had us fill out witness statements, and I uploaded the twenty-minute video I took to the police evidence site. The driver thought the man had damaged the bus, so he had to stick around. Another bus on the same route came by and picked us up. Definitely an unusual experience!

I didn't really feel unsafe, because it was clear that the crazy guy couldn't open the doors. But I was glad that the driver had the wits not to let him get the doors open!

Lately, I've also been doing some freelance editing work for a professor. His coauthor didn't feel a need to cite his sources correctly, so I had to clean them up. It was really challenging! I'm not entirely satisfied with the result, but I did what I could given the time I had. I'm glad to have that done as well.

And Saturday I got my COVID-19 booster shot. My arm is sore, but other than that I'm fine so far.

Except that I slept horribly last night. Ever since the time change, I haven't been sleeping well, and last night was worse than usual. I used to go to bed at 11:00, but on the new time, I'm not falling asleep until 12:00, which is two hours later than it should be! I'm so confused; I don't know what changed.

***

Here we are, the second-to-last installment of pumkinundation roundup for 2021.

Sometimes I find a product that is so unusual that I have to try it, such as this Pearson's Apple Pie Salted Nut Roll. The peanuts are coated in cinnamon, and supposedly there's some apple flavoring. But the cinnamon is the biggest element. It's fine. I love that it exists, but the taste isn't really like apple pie. 6/10.

I had this Birch Benders Pumpkin Spice Paleo Pancakes in my cupboard since last year, because it's not that good. It's mostly made of fruit and vegetable starches. When you follow the instructions, there isn't nearly enough water. Like, I don't know how they made such a glaring mistake. So I added more water this year, and they were better. You can taste the pumpkin and spices, but they're mostly weird. 5/10.

I liked this Crumbl Apple Pie Cookie better than some of the other pie cookies they've had. The "crust" tastes like oats and brown sugar. The apples were a little chewy, but not badly so. 9/10.

I really enjoy Cutler's Turkey, Stuffing, Cranberry Sandwiches. They just taste so festive. 8/10.

I have long considered cranberry orange a Christmas flavor, and of course cranberries feature prominently at Thanksgiving, so is cranberry orange a Thanksgiving flavor as well? I decided it was for this Goodly Cranberry Orange White Chocolate Cookie, which had white chocolate chips and cranberries. It was a great cookie, but it mostly tasted like white chocolate; the cranberry and orange weren't as prominent as I would have liked. But Goodly is still my favorite cookie place. 8/10.

Trader Joe's Thanksgiving Stuffing Seasoned Kettle Chips are always a welcome respite from all the sugary stuff. Sometimes you just want something salty, ya know? 7/10.

When I come home from my Monday evening class, I have to catch two buses. This week, I barely missed the second bus, so I had to hang around the downtown Maverik, where I got this Maverik Pumpkin Spice Hot Cocoa. It has a subtle pumpkin spice flavor. 7/10.

Recently my mom made mincemeat with our own apples and our own green tomatoes (no meat in this recipe). There was a little bit leftover that couldn't be canned, so I made it into mincemeat cookies. They had some of that distinctive mincemeat flavor without being overwhelming. I wouldn't say they're my favorite cookies ever, but I did enjoy them. 7/10.

It's been a few years since I've had Trader Joe's Fall Zucchette Pasta, which is made with butternut squash and is shaped like pumpkins. It has a definite squash flavor that is not overwhelming. 7/10.

I was eager to try the 7-Eleven Thanksgiving Turkey Sub. The bread is flavored like stuffing, and they really nailed the flavor! It has turkey, cheese, and cranberry mayo. I like everything but the mayo, which just made me feel gross (and added lots of calories). I would have preferred plain cranberry sauce. But I'm guessing that would make the sandwich soggy, hence they did mayo instead. 7/10.

Nuke-you-lar

Hmm, it wasn't that exciting of a week. I had a major paper due on Friday, so I wrapped that up Thursday evening. It was a research paper, and I do actually enjoy looking through historical sources and writing about what I find. I was specifically talking about the Fourth of July and Pioneer Day in 1880. Emmeline B. Wells wrote a speech about the contributions of pioneer women, but her speech was read by a man because it was suspicious for women to speak to mixed audiences in those days.

Anyway, that's not the only thing I was working on. I have a presentation I have to give on Thursday this coming week for my science and technology class. I will be discussing the history of paleontology. I'm not done yet, and I'm nervous, but it's nice to know that no matter what, whether my presentation goes well or poorly, it will all be done after Thursday. Then I will be done with two of my three biggest projects for the semester.

Since I was working on these things, I basically told myself I couldn't have fun until they were done, but there were still some things I was able to do. 

We grad students in the science and technology class read a book called The Radiance of France, which was about how France formed a national identity around nuclear power in the postwar/Cold War era. It was a well written book, but I found the topic to be a little boring. Anyway, one of the students arranged for us to go on a tour of a nuclear reactor on the University of Utah campus. We had to leave our recording devices in another room, then we put on blue lab coats as we gathered around the reactor. It was a giant pool of clear water. At first I thought it was an empty pool with glass on top, since it was so clear. There were lots of fuel rods in it. There was also an older reactor that hadn't been used in decades; it was painted with the U's logo and some Egyptian hieroglyphics. But our tour guide operated under the assumption that we knew how nuclear reactors work. I don't really. So it was interesting to see the reactor, but the tour went on very long, and I didn't feel like I learned much. Before we left, they put a Geiger counter to our hands and the soles of our shoes to make sure we weren't exposed to radiation.

I also told myself that I couldn't have fun, but trail running is exercise, even though it is fun, so I was able to do that twice this week: once on the Woodbriar Trail,

and once in North Canyon, my very favorite place.

Even though it no longer has the green of June or the yellow of September, North Canyon in November still has its own stunning beauty.

When I'm doing homework, Jimmy likes to sit on my lap. It makes it harder to type, but it makes homework that much better.

He also likes to come on my bed in the middle of the night when he hears me moving around, so I will lie on my back so he can come sit on me. That makes it hard to go back to sleep. But I can't be mad at him. I don't know how much longer I will still have him, so I have to love him while I can.

 ***

Time for another installment of pumpkinundation roundup!

Trader Joe's Thanksgiving Pie Chocolate Truffles have four flavors (left to right): salted caramel pecan, caramel apple cinnamon, cranberry ginger cinnamon, and chocolate and vanilla crème. The first is enjoyable but more caramel than pecan. 8/10. The apple is paradoxically the most like a pie but least good; the flavor feels artificial. 6/10. The cranberry doesn't taste much like cranberry, but it's still nice. 7/10. And the last is good but boring. 7/10.

Pumpkin Pie Larabars have actual pumpkin, but they are just OK. 6/10.

I was eager to try the new Crumbl Pecan Pie Cookie, since they do a terrible job of scheduling seasonal cookies and pecan pie is my favorite pie. The cookie tastes like shortbread, and the filling is reminiscent of pecan pie. But I just didn't think they worked that well together. It was good but not great. 7/10.

Trader Joe's has a lot of turkey stuff this time of year, so I didn't know whether Trader Joe's Turkey Corn Dogs were a seasonal offering or a regular one. I thought the hot dog was too tough, but then again, our microwave is weird. 6/10.

The Fiiz Pumpkin Spice Frappe mostly tastes like caramel, but at least it doesn't taste as artificial as some pumpkin spice products. I don't actually know what's in a frappe. 7/10.

bNutty Pecan Pie Gourmet Peanut Butter is one of those peanut butters you have to stir first, and I hate that! It has crunchy bits. It's a sweet peanut butter, but I wouldn't really call it a pecan pie flavor. 7/10.

This B&D Burgers Pumpkin Shake was OK. It had a weak pumpkin flavor, but it wasn't very exciting. 6/10.

Trader Joe's Pumpkin Spice Creamy Cashew Cultured Yogurt Alternative is a vegan version of Greek Yogurt. Wait—you mean people are taking something that is not Greek yogurt and trying to make it taste like Greek yogurt? I thought the only appeal of Greek yogurt was its protein content. It certainly doesn't taste that good. This has the same sourness. 4/10.

The Trader Joe's Gobbler Quesadilla has turkey, butternut squash, kale, and cranberries. It's hard to go wrong with a quesadilla, though I could do without the rough texture of the kale. 8/10.

I got these Bobo's Apple Pie Stuffed Oat Bites at the Fourth of July and had one leftover. The apple filling might not be super authentic, but it adds some needed moisture to the dry oat bar. 7/10.

Trader Joe's Turkey & Pumpkin Mole Burrito doesn't taste that seasonal, and I'm not a huge fan of mole, but it's hard to go wrong with a burrito. 7/10.

Beginning of November

Last week I blogged on Halloween, but there were still a few hours left in the holiday, though it didn't feel much like the holiday anymore. I took some of the pumpkin pieces we cut out of jack-o'-lanterns, peeled and grated them, and then made them into a sweet bread. It was OK, but it needed something acidic. (See what I learn from watching Halloween/Holiday/Spring Baking Championship?)

I went on a neighborhood walk. I saw a couple of girls walking up our street with plastic bags full of candy (but no costumes), so I expected them to trick-or-treat at our house, but we didn't get a single visitor on Halloween evening. On my walk, I even saw one house had already taken down their Halloween display, even though it was literally Halloween! I lit our jack-o'-lanterns and played my Halloween music outside, but still no one came. I also made pumpkin turkey chili, because apparently chili is a Halloween tradition for some people. And my mom and I spent the evening watching Song of the Sea again. It was kind of a boring Halloween. Oh well, there's always next year.

On Monday morning, I went on a North Canyon run. It's always a wonderful place, but it's less interesting when all the flowers and leaves are gone. 

Now that there's the new trail, I don't have to walk through the muddy road, but overall I'm not too impressed with the new trail. And the trail runs next to private property, and the owner has put barbed wire exactly next to the trail! 

Tuesday began a series of appointments for the week. That morning my insurance agent called me to renew my health insurance ("Obamacare") for 2022. (I'm hoping that maybe in 2022 I'll get a real job that gives me benefits.) And in the afternoon, after class, I met with the academic advisor to make sure I'm on track for graduation.

Wednesday morning I went to the dentist, and all appears well with my teeth. I think my hygienist was new; that was the wettest I ever got at the dentist. And in all my life, I have never had a female dentist or a male hygienist (that I can remember). 

Thursday afternoon I ran up North Canyon again. I believe it was my first time ever going on an evening/afternoon run there in November.

On Friday, I took my car in for maintenance, and it was free this time. That was a relief, because the last three times were very expensive (transmission fluid, new tires, new filters, etc.). That same day, I began working on a freelance editing project for one of my professors. It's supposed to be done by the end of the month, and it's turning out much harder than I expected. I also quoted him an hourly rate, and then recently I saw a list of standard rates for freelance editors, and I learned I am vastly undercharging. And I would imagine that I am a better editor than a great majority of freelance editors—I say that because I have seen other editors' work, and it's not as good as mine. (If they were so great, they would work for an institution). Oh well, I will know for next time.

Friday evening, I finished putting up most of my Thanksgiving decorations while playing my Thanksgiving playlist.  I love my Thanksgiving decorations; they just make me feel so festive, cozy, and nostalgic for dark November evenings at home. But they also make me a little uncomfortable: Pilgrims did not wear buckles, the First Thanksgiving was not the first Thanksgiving, turkeys are irrelevant to vegetarians, harvest season is over before Thanksgiving, etc. 

On Saturday, I went to Graywhale in Taylorsville and bought two out-of-print CDs with songs I can add to my Thanksgiving and Christmas playlists, songs that are not available streaming. That is one of several reasons I'm not ready to switch exclusively to streaming, because not everything is available.

And I also went to the Walmart in Layton specifically so I could buy Pumpkin Spice Cup Noodles to review (see below). I found exactly one that had been misplaced. So it was a success, but barely.

My next two weeks will be hectic with two major projects due. But I think I can do this.

***

Pumpkinundation roundup!

As I mentioned above, I made pumpkin turkey black bean chili, which I think I have made every year since 2015. There are more flavorful chilis, but I still really enjoy this one. 7/10.

Sprouts Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal isn't as mushy as most oatmeals; the oats remain harder. But I like it that way. It's fine. 6/10.

Sprouts Brown Sugar & Cinnamon Sweet Potato Chips aren't as sweet as you would expect. They aren't like regular potato chips, and the cinnamon isn't overpowering. 7/10.

Sprouts Stuffing Flavored Almonds are interesting. They really do taste like stuffing! I was eating them as I looked at the ingredients. I saw "celery seed" on the list and I thought, "Yes, I can totally taste the celery!" But then I thought, "No, you don't taste celery, you are simply imagining cooked celery because this tastes so much like stuffing." They nailed the flavor, but do you want your almonds to taste like stuffing? The textures are so vastly different. 6/10.

Trader Joe's Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese Bites are OK, considering I don't really like certain cheesy things. 6/10.

Trader Joe's Fall Harvest Salsa has apples, pumpkin, tomatoes, and other things. I haven't seen it for a few years, but I love it! 8/10.

Trader Joe's Pepita Salsa is a little different. Pepitas are pumpkin seeds, and this time I could actually notice them. I still like this one, but it's not as good as the other. 7/10.

I liked this Bobo's Pumpkin Spice Oat Bar better this time than I have in the past. It's very oaty; the pumpkin spice isn't super strong. 7/10.

Parsons' Bakery Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie has a citrus frosting. I appreciate the citrus, which isn't something we see often with pumpkin. But Parsons' is a mediocre bakery. 7/10.

And here is the Pumpkin Spice Noodles. I will be submitting a formal review of this. It is both sweet and savory at the same time. It's kind of weird. But I would gladly eat it again, so 7/10.

They recommended adding the whipped cream, and I liked it better that way!

Apple Pie Toast Crunch is new, and I love it! It really tastes like apple pie, including the apples and the cinnamon. 9/10.

This Batch Pumpkin Spice Instant Pudding was on the clearance rack at Walmart, but they still charged us full price! And it really isn't very good. It doesn't have any pumpkin. I know it's a cliché to say something tastes like a candle, but it's really the case here. It tastes like I walked into a 1990s boutique. (Maybe they still smell the same way, I just haven't been to one in a while.) 4/10.

A few weeks ago, I shared my red, white, and blue candy corn, and here's another summer leftover: See's Candies Apple Pie Bites. For years, I resisted counting apple pie as a Fourth of July dessert/flavor, since apples are a fall fruit, not summer. But these candies helped me change my mind this year. Nevertheless, I still think apple pie is more appropriate for Thanksgiving. I love how cute these candies are, with a little flag on the inside. And they really taste like apple pie! But is that a flavor you want in a hard candy? 7/10.